Early life

Wahlberg was born June 5, 1971 in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, the youngest of nine children,[2] with siblings Arthur, Jim, Paul, Robert, Tracey, Michelle, Debbie (died in 2003 at age 44), and Donnie. Wahlberg’s mother, Alma Elaine (née Donnelly), was a bank clerk and nurse’s aide, and Wahlberg’s father, Donald Edward Wahlberg, was a Teamster who worked as a delivery driver. His parents divorced in 1982.[3] His father was of half Swedish and half Irish ancestry, and his mother is of Irish, English, and French Canadian descent.[4] Maternally, Wahlberg is distantly related to author Nathaniel Hawthorne.[5] Wahlberg had a Roman Catholic[6][7] upbringing and attended Copley Square High School (but never graduated) on Newbury Street in Boston.

Assaults and conviction

Wahlberg had been in trouble 20–25 times with the Boston Police Department in his youth. By the age of thirteen, Wahlberg had developed an addiction to cocaine and other substances.[8][9] At fifteen, he harassed a group of black school children on a field trip by throwing rocks and shouting racial epithets.[10]
When he was sixteen, Wahlberg approached a middle-aged Vietnamese man
on the street and, using a large wooden stick, knocked him unconscious
(while calling him “Vietnam fucking shit”). He also attacked another
Vietnamese man, leaving him permanently blind in one eye.[11][12]

For these crimes, Wahlberg was charged with attempted murder, pled guilty to assault, and was sentenced to two years in state prison at Boston’s Deer Island House of Correction, of which he served 45 days.[11][13] In another incident, the 21-year-old Wahlberg fractured the jaw of a neighbor in an unprovoked attack.[14]
Commenting in 2006 on his past crimes, Wahlberg has stated: “I did a
lot of things that I regret, and I have certainly paid for my mistakes.”
He said the right thing to do would be to try to find the blinded man
and make amends, and admitted he has not done so, but added that he was
no longer burdened by guilt: “You have to go and ask for forgiveness and
it wasn’t until I really started doing good and doing right by other
people, as well as myself, that I really started to feel that guilt go
away. So I don’t have a problem going to sleep at night. I feel good
when I wake up in the morning.”[15]

After landing in prison following this assault, he decided to change
his ways. According to Wahlberg, “As soon as I began that life of crime,
there was always a voice in my head telling me I was going to end up in
jail. Three of my brothers had done time. My sister went to prison so
many times I lost count. Finally I was there, locked up with the kind of
guys I’d always wanted to be like. Now I’d earned my stripes and I was
just like them, and I realized it wasn’t what I wanted at all. I’d ended
up in the worst place I could possibly imagine and I never wanted to go
back. First of all, I had to learn to stay on the straight and narrow.”
Wahlberg first relied on the guidance of his parish priest to turn his back on crime. He told his street gang
that he was leaving them and had “some serious fights” with them over
it. The actor commented in 2009: “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life
and I’ve done bad things, but I never blamed my upbringing for that. I
never behaved like a victim so that I would have a convenient reason for
victimizing others. Everything I did wrong was my own fault. I was
taught the difference between right and wrong at an early age. I take
full responsibility.”[16]

Wahlberg began recording as Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, earning a hit with “Good Vibrations” from the album Music for the People. The record was produced by brother Donnie and later hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, later becoming certified as a platinum single. The second single, “Wildside”, peaked at No. 5 on BillboardsHot Singles Sales chart and at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.[17]
It was certified as a gold single. Marky Mark opened for the New Kids
on the Block during their last tour. The second Marky Mark and the Funky
Bunch LP, You Gotta Believe,
was not as successful as the prior, yielding only a minor hit single in
the title track. Wahlberg later collaborated with the late reggae/ragga singer Prince Ital Joe on the album Life in the Streets. The project combined rap and ragga vocals with strong eurodance music (as in the singles Happy People, German No. 1 hit United, Life in the Streets, and Babylon) courtesy of Frank Peterson and Alex Christensen as producers.

Advertising career

Wahlberg first displayed his physique in the Good Vibrations music video and most prominently in a series of underwear ads for Calvin Klein shot by Herb Ritts, following it with Calvin Klein television advertisements.[19] Magazine and television promotions would sometimes feature Mark exclusively or accompanied by model Kate Moss. Annie Leibovitz also shot a famous session of Mark Wahlberg in underwear for Vanity Fair’s annual Hall of Fame issue.[20] He also made a workout video titled The Marky Mark Workout: Form… Focus… Fitness (ISBN 1-55510-910-1).

In 2012, he launched a line of sports nutrition supplements called “Marked”.[21]

Wahlberg starred in the American football drama, Invincible, based on the true story of bartender Vince Papale. He is also the executive producer of the HBO series Entourage which is loosely based on his experiences in Hollywood. He also appeared as a foul-mouthed Massachusetts State Police detective in Martin Scorsese‘s critically acclaimed thriller, The Departed in 2006, which netted him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, and an NSFC Best Supporting Actor award. Wahlberg has confirmed that he was approached to star in a sequel to The Departed, but it is still early in development. The sequel would reportedly revolve around the Staff Sergeant played by Wahlberg.[24]

He starred in M. Night Shyamalan‘s The Happening as Eliot Moore, which premiered in movie theatres on June 13, 2008. The same year, he played the title role in Max Payne, based on a video game of the same name. While promoting Max Payne, Mark became involved in a playful feud with Saturday Night Live‘s Andy Samberg and threatened to “crack that big fucking nose of his”. Samberg had done an impression of Wahlberg in a Saturday Night Live skit titled “Mark Wahlberg Talks To Animals”.[29][30]
However, Wahlberg later appeared in a follow-up skit parodying both the
original skit, Samberg’s impression of Wahlberg, and his own threats to
Samberg.[31][32]

Personal life

Family and relationships

In the early 1990s, Wahlberg dated former child actress Soleil Moon Frye.[33] Wahlberg and model Rhea Durham
have been together since 2001 and were married on August 1, 2009 at the
Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Beverly Hills. The couple have four
children, Ella Rae (born September 2, 2003), Michael Robert (born March
21, 2006), Brendan Joseph (born September 16, 2008) and Grace Margaret
(born January 11, 2010). In a 2011 interview with USA Weekend, Wahlberg stated that he had taken his children to visit his old Dorchester neighborhood, saying “I want them to know that not everyone is as fortunate and how important it is to work hard and give back.”[34]

His father, a US Army veteran of the Korean War, died on February 14, 2008.[35]

Religion

Wahlberg is a committed Roman Catholic,[36]
who attends daily Mass, credits his faith and a priest from his
childhood for helping him turn his life around, and recognizes the
seriousness of his faith.[7]

Charity work

Actively involved in charity, Wahlberg established the Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation in May 2001 for the purpose of raising and distributing funds to youth service and enrichment programs.[37]

Wahlberg is also active with The Good Shepherd Center for Homeless
Women and Children. In an interview, Mark said that it’s important to
let the homeless know that people care about them and are working to
help the impoverished get back on their feet.[38]

Tattoos

Wahlberg has four tattoos done by various artists including Paul Timman.[40] The tattoos include Sylvester the cat with Tweety Bird in his mouth on his ankle, a design of his initials “MW” with his surname “Wahlberg” on his upper right arm, and a Bob Marley tattoo with “One Love” on his upper left arm.[41] The final tattoo, which Wahlberg holds as his most meaningful, is the rosary tattooed around his neck, with a crucifix and the words “In God I Trust” resting over his heart.[41] On January 9, 2012 Wahlberg was a guest on the Late Show with David Letterman.
He spoke about his tattoos and stated he is in the process of having
them removed. Initially he was told it would take 8–10 laser treatments,
however he required over 30 treatments and is still in the process of
getting them removed. He cited his career and children as the reason for
the removal of the tattoos. His first tattoo was as a young teenager
and it was of a shamrock. As it was not professionally done, he said the
shamrock was not straight and had the Tweety Bird tattoo placed over it
after arriving in Los Angeles.

Who is Bryan Ferry? The entertainment and music world knows him as Bryan Ferry, Ferry is an English singer, musician, and songwriter. Ferry came to public prominence in the early 1970s as lead vocalist and principal songwriter with the band Roxy Music, who enjoyed a highly successful career with three number one albums and ten singles entering the top ten charts in the United Kingdom. Ferry began his solo career in 1973, while still a member of Roxy Music, which continues to the present day.

Roxy Music and solo years (1971–1983)

Ferry formed Roxy Music with a group of friends and acquaintances, beginning with Graham Simpson, in November 1970. The line-up expanded to include saxophonist/oboist Andy Mackay and his acquaintance Brian Eno, who owned tape recorders and played Mackay’s synthesiser. Other early members included timpanist Dexter Lloyd and ex-Nice guitarist David O’List, who were replaced respectively by Paul Thompson and Phil Manzanera before the band recorded its first album. (Early Peel sessions for UK radio station Radio 1 feature O’List’s playing.)[7]
Roxy Music’s first hit, “Virginia Plain”, just missed topping the charts, and was followed up with several hit singles and albums, with Ferry as vocalist and occasional instrumentalist (he taught himself piano in his mid-twenties) and Eno contributing synthesiser backing.
For many years, Ferry has collaborated with fashion designer Antony Price for clothing and image consultations. Price is famous for his shop on London’s Kings Road. He created suits recognised worldwide for their elegance, and gained fame when celebrities and rock stars dressed in his designs.[8] Indeed, one comment by Nicky Haslam about Ferry was that he was more likely to redecorate a hotel room than to trash it.[9]

After their second album, Eno left Roxy Music, leaving Ferry its undisputed leader. Ferry had already started a parallel solo career in 1973, initially performing cover versions of old standards on albums such as These Foolish Things (1973) and Another Time, Another Place (1974), both of which reached the UK Top 5. After the concert tours in support of Siren, Roxy Music temporarily disbanded in 1976 though band-members Paul Thompson, Phil Manzanera and Eddie Jobson took part in recording Ferry’s subsequent solo material. In 1976, Ferry covered a Beatles song, “She’s Leaving Home” for the transitory musical documentary All This and World War II. He went on to release three solo albums during this period, Let’s Stick Together (1976), In Your Mind (1977) and The Bride Stripped Bare (1978), but by this time his career had begun to wane.
Roxy Music reconvened in 1979, with Ferry, Manzanera, Thompson and Mackay (Jobson was no longer a member). The band recorded the albums Manifesto (1979), Flesh + Blood (1980) and Avalon (1982), the latter two reaching number one in the UK album charts.[10] The band also achieved their first and only UK number one single, “Jealous Guy“, released in 1981 as a posthumous tribute to its author John Lennon who had been murdered some months earlier. It was the only one of their singles not written by Ferry.
After lengthy tours to promote the Avalon album in 1982, Ferry decided to put Roxy Music on hold and continue as a solo artist.

After Roxy Music (1985–2001)

Ferry continued to record, and released his sixth solo album, Boys and Girls, in 1985. The album reached number one in the UK, his first and only solo recording to do so, and also became his biggest selling album in the US.
In July 1985, Ferry performed at the London Live Aid show, again accompanied by David Gilmour.[11] He was hit with technical difficulties on sound, the drummer’s drumstick broke at the start of the first song “Sensation” and Gilmour’s Fender Stratocaster went dead, so he had to switch to his candy-apple red Stratocaster for the rest of the performance.[12] The difficulties in sound were overcome for “Slave to Love” (featured on the soundtrack to 9½ Weeks) and “Jealous Guy”. As with other successful Live Aid acts, his current album, Boys and Girls, remained in the chart for almost a year.
After the Avalon promotional tours, Ferry was rather reluctant to return to life on the road; however, a change of management persuaded him to try touring again in 1988 to promote the previous year’s Bête Noire release. Following the tour, Ferry teamed up again with Brian Eno for Mamouna (collaborating with Robin Trower on guitar and as producer). The album took more than five years to produce, and was created under the working title Horoscope. During production, Ferry simultaneously recorded and released another covers album, Taxi in 1993, which proved to be a greater commercial and critical success than Mamouna would be when it was finally released in 1994. In 1996, Ferry performed the song “Dance With Life” for the Phenomenon soundtrack, which was written by Bernie Taupin and Martin Page. In 1999 Ferry appeared with Alan Partridge (played by Steve Coogan) on BBC’s Comic Relief.
After taking some time off from music, Ferry returned in 1999. He began to perform a mix of 1930s songs and songs of his own, including several from the Roxy collection, and recorded them on the album As Time Goes By, which was nominated for a Grammy award.[13]

Roxy Music reunion and continuing solo career (2001–present)

Ferry, Manzanera, Mackay and Thompson re-reformed Roxy Music in 2001 and toured extensively for a couple of years though the band did not record any new material. In 2002, with the help of Manzanera and Thompson, Ferry returned with his next studio album, Frantic, which also featured a collaboration with Brian Eno. The album was a mix of new original material and covers – something that Ferry had not attempted on a solo album since The Bride Stripped Bare in 1978.
In 2003, Ferry provided the entertainment for the Miss World election, a show with an expected 2 billion viewers worldwide.[14] In 2004, Ferry starred in the short film The Porter. In 2005, it was confirmed[15] that Roxy Music (Ferry, Eno, Mackay, Manzanera and Thompson) would be performing further shows at that year’s Isle Of Wight festival and that they would also be recording a further album of new and original songs, with no indication of when such a project would reach completion.[16] Brian Eno confirmed[17] that he has worked in the studio with Roxy Music once more and has co-written songs for the new album. However, Ferry later debunked the idea of a new Roxy Music album and stated that the material from these sessions will most likely be released as part of his next solo album,[18] and that “I don’t think we’ll record as Roxy again.”[19]
In October 2006, Bryan Ferry modelled clothing range Autograph with British retailer, Marks and Spencer. In 2007, Ferry released the album Dylanesque, a tribute album to Bob Dylan. The album charted in the UK Top 10, and Ferry undertook a UK tour.
On October 7, 2008, Ferry was honored as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI London Awards. He joined past Icons including Peter Gabriel, Ray Davies, Steve Winwood, Van Morrison, amongst others.[20]
In 2009, Ferry provided vocals on DJ Hell‘s record, U Can Dance. A new version of the track was recorded for Ferry’s new studio album, Olympia, released in October 2010. The album contained the material he had been recorded with his former Roxy Music bandmembers, and also featured an impressive cast of other musicians such as Nile Rodgers, David A. Stewart, Scissor Sisters, Groove Armada, Michael “Flea” Balzary, Johnny Greenwood and David Gilmour, and also featured model Kate Moss on the front cover. The album recieved excellent reviews and made the UK Top 20 as well as entering the U.S. Billboard Charts, pushed by it’s lead single “You Can Dance”.

Personal life

Several of the women Ferry has been involved with have appeared as cover models on the Roxy Music albums. Ferry dated singer and model Amanda Lear, who was photographed with a black jaguar for the cover of the For Your Pleasure album. She later went on to date David Bowie.[21]
Ferry then began a relationship with model Jerry Hall. Hall appeared in several of Ferry’s music videos, including “Let’s Stick Together” and “The Price of Love.” Ferry first met Hall when she posed for the Roxy Music album cover for Siren in Wales during the summer 1975. Hall’s autobiography Tall Tales describes the photo session, and she elaborates on how the blue body paint she wore to look like a mythical siren would not wash off; Hall says that Ferry took her back to his house, claiming he would help her to remove the paint.[22] Her stay at Ferry’s Holland Park (London) home, following the album cover photo shoot, marked the start of their affair. Hall and Ferry moved in together, sharing homes in London and in the ritzy Bel Air section of Los Angeles. His relationship with Hall ended when she left him for Mick Jagger in late 1977. To this day, Ferry rarely speaks about Hall, but fans often speculate that his song “Kiss and Tell” from the Bête Noire album was Ferry’s response to Hall’s tell-all book about their relationship.[23] Ferry often refuses to discuss his feelings about Hall or talk about their romantic history during interviews. Bryan Ferry’s solo album The Bride Stripped Bare is widely believed[24] to contain allusions to his break-up with Hall—particularly the song “When She Walks in the Room”. Ferry’s original songs on the album were in fact written some time before the relationship ended, although it was recorded afterwards.Ferry eventually settled down to married life with Lucy Helmore, and they had four sons, including huntsman and political activist Otis, Isaac, Tara and Merlin.Tara was performing in a rock band called “Rubber Kiss Goodbye” and simultaneously studying at Chelsea College of Art and Design, according to the Sunday Times (28 Sept. 2008). Merlin studied at Marlborough College for his “A” Levels.
Ferry and Helmore split in the early 2000s and were divorced in 2003. After their separation, British newspapers photographed Ferry with Katie Turner, 35 years his junior, naming her as his new ‘girlfriend’.[25] Ferry and Turner met while she worked as one of the dancers on Roxy Music’s concert tour in 2001 (and is featured on the DVD of the 2001 Hammersmith Odeon Show). She went on to appear with Ferry on several TV shows to promote the Frantic album, and also performed on the Frantic tour in 2002. After their break-up, Ferry had a relationship with Lady Emily Compton, a socialite.[26] In 2006, he resumed his relationship with Katie Turner for some time. Ferry is now in a relationship with Amanda Sheppard, who previously worked in public relations, until she quit her job in 2009 after Ferry offered to financially support her.[27]

Political views

In 2008, Ferry alluded to support for the Conservative Party, referring to himself as “conservative by nature,” but essentially apolitical. Without elaborating, he stated he was “proud” of his son Otis and declared the ban on fox hunting “futile.” He also alluded to an opposition to “left-wing bitterness” and the spectre of “political correctness,” but the model of free speech he cited was the anarchic 1970s and not the Thatcher era or a more distant past.[28] In a 2009 interview, Ferry stated: “I would support a Cameron government. I have met him, and he’s a bright guy. I hope they do well. I don’t like the way the present Government has done things, most of all putting my son in prison for four and a half months, totally unlawfully … and that’s not just my opinion: judges, all sorts, have said it was a stitch-up. It was politically motivated. The poor lad just wants to live the traditional country life.”[29]
Ferry is a supporter of the Countryside Alliance and has played concerts to raise funds for the organisation.[30]

In other media

In 1985, Ferry contributed the song “Is Your Love Strong Enough” to the Ridley Scott–Tom Cruise film Legend. The song (featuring guitar work by David Gilmour) plays during the end credits of the U.S. theatrical release, and was released with the Tangerine Dream version of the soundtrack on CD (although this is out of print and rare). A promotional music video was created, integrating Ferry and Gilmour into scenes from the film; this is included as a bonus in the 2002 “Ultimate Edition” DVD release.
In 2005, Ferry appeared in Neil Jordan‘s movie, Breakfast on Pluto, starring Cillian Murphy as a young Irish transvestite who goes to London in the glam 1970s to find his mother. Ferry, appearing in a bit part as Mr. Silky String, played a suave but creepy john who picks up the sexually ambiguous young man and, after a short conversation, attempts to strangle him in the front seat of his car.
Ferry is referenced in the comedy show The Mighty Boosh in the episode “Hitcher”, as Vince Noir’s adopted father and King of the Forest. At the end of the episode, it is revealed that ‘Brian Ferry’ actually resembles Terry Wogan.
The song “Which Way to Turn” from the album Mamouna, is the feature song in the 2007 Woody Harrelson movie The Walker. Ferry’s song “Slave to Love“, from the album Boys and Girls, was featured in Bitter Moon, a 1992 film directed by Roman Polanski; the entire song is also played in a scene in the 1986 movie Nine 1/2 Weeks by Adrian Lyne.

In 1995, Consuelos met Kelly Ripa, his co-star on All My Children. The two eloped on May 1, 1996. The couple have three children: Michael Joseph Consuelos (born June 2, 1997), Lola Grace Consuelos (born June 16, 2001), and Joaquin Antonio Consuelos (born February 24, 2003).

In 1998 and 1999, Consuelos won the American Latino Media Arts Award for “Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Soap Opera”. Consuelos won “Hottest Romance” along with Ripa in 1997 at the Soap Opera Awards.[3]

Who is Jordin Brianna Sparks? The entertainment and music world knows her as Jordin Sparks. Sparks is an American pop/R&Bsinger-songwriter, model and actress from Glendale, Arizona who rose to fame as the winner of the sixth season of American Idol. Sparks won when she was 17 years old, making her the youngest winner in Idol history. She followed her American Idol victory with the release of her self-titled debut album in 2007, which has gone platinum in the U.S. and has sold over 2 million copies worldwide.[2] Sparks’ single, “No Air” is the highest selling single by any American Idol contestant, selling about 4 million digital copies worldwide.[3] Due to the success of her debut album and its four top 20 singles, she has received numerous awards and nominations including an American Music Award in 2008 and her first Grammy nomination in 2009.
Sparks’ second album Battlefield was released in July 2009 worldwide and debuted at #7 in the U.S., three spots higher than her first album. The album’s lead single, also titled “Battlefield“, peaked in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it her third top 10 single and fifth consecutive top 20 single. Sparks is the only Idol contestant to have their first five singles reach the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Battlefield” has sold almost 2 million copies worldwide. Sparks has sold over 9 million singles worldwide to date, making her one of the most successful idol winners. Battlefield’s second single, “S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)“, was her first song to top the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play making it her first U.S. number one single.[4] Sparks followed her success in 2010 by making her debut on Broadway. Sparks starred as Nina Rosario in the Tony Award winning broadway musical, In The Heights.

Biography

Sparks was born December 22, 1989 in Phoenix, Arizona to Jodi Weidmann Sparks and former professional football player Phillippi Sparks. Sparks has a younger brother, Phillippi “PJ” Sparks, Jr., who plays football at Mountain Ridge High School. She grew up in the suburbs of Ridgewood, New Jersey, while her father played as a defensive back for the New York Giants. After living in New Jersey, Sparks attended Northwest Community Christian School in Phoenix through the eighth grade. Sparks attended Sandra Day O’Connor High School until 2006, when she was homeschooled to better concentrate on her singing.[5] Sparks is an evangelicalChristian and attends Calvary Community Church in Phoenix. On her American Idol biography, she thanks her parents and God for her win.[6] She wears a purity ring that symbolizes her desire to remain a virgin until marriage. She won an award for best young artist of the year in Arizona for three years.
Before appearing on American Idol, Sparks participated in and won such talent competitions as Coca-Cola’s Rising Star, the Gospel Music Association Academy’s Overall Spotlight Award, America’s Most Talented Kids, Colgate Country Showdown, and the 2006 Drug Free AZ Superstar Search. Prior to Idol, Sparks frequently performed the national anthem at various local sporting events, notably for the Phoenix Suns, Arizona Cardinals, and Arizona Diamondbacks. Sparks also appeared with Alice Cooper in his 2004 Christmas show and toured with Christian contemporary singer Michael W. Smith in 2006. In 2006, Sparks was one of six winners of the Phoenix Torrid search for the “Next Plus Size Model”. She was flown to California, where she was used in a number of Torrid ads and promotional pieces.[7] A full-page ad for Torrid featuring Sparks ran in the December 2006 issue of Seventeen magazine.
On June 15th, 2011 Jordin had her first-ever bikini shoot for the cover of People Magazine Most Amazing Bodies issue. Jordin was interviewed by a couple media publications and when speaking about her weight loss and diet to Access Hollywood she says “My diet has pretty much remained the same, like if I want a piece of bread, I’m gonna have a piece of bread, but I’m making healthier decisions like instead of a bag of chips for a snack, I’ll see if I can find an apple, I’ve also upped my intake of vegetables and I’m drinking a lot more water.” [8][9][10]

American Idol

In the summer of 2006, Sparks auditioned twice for the sixth season of American Idol: once in Los Angeles (only auditioned for producers) and again in Seattle after winning Arizona Idol, a talent competition conducted by Phoenix Fox station KSAZ-TV. The Seattle audition is the one seen in the January 17, 2007 broadcast of American Idol, in which she earned a “gold ticket” and the right to appear in the Hollywood Round. American Idol judge Randy Jackson made the offhand prediction that, “Curly hair will win this year.”[11] While on the show, Sparks gained a loyal fan base known as “Sparkplugs”. On May 23, 2007, Sparks was crowned the winner of the sixth season of American Idol. She remains the youngest winner in American Idol history. Cowell said, “Jordin was the most improved over the whole season – didn’t start the best, but midway through this was the girl who suddenly got momentum.” He included that “Young girl, likeable, and the singer won over the entertainer [Lewis].”[12] Four selected songs Sparks had performed on American Idol, including the season’s coronation song, “This Is My Now“, were made available on her self-titledEP, released on May 22, 2007, the day before the grand finale.[13] The coronation song, “This Is My Now” peaked at number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Sparks’ first top fifteen hit on the chart.[14] The following summer, Sparks took part in the American Idols LIVE! Tour 2007 from July 6 to September 23, 2007 along with other contestants in the top ten.

Since her win in 2007, Sparks has returned to Idol five times. She performed twice on the seventh season of American Idol, once on the Idol Gives Back results show singing “No Air” with Chris Brown and again with “One Step at a Time” on May 21, 2008 for the finale. She performed “Battlefield” on the May 13, 2009 episode of American Idol. The following year, Sparks took part in a tribute to Simon Cowell with other former contestants at the Season 9 finale on May 26, 2010. Most recently, during Season 10, Sparks performed her new song “I Am Woman” on the Top 4 results show.

After winning American Idol, Sparks signed to 19 Recordings/Jive Records, becoming the first Idol winner to join the label.[15] On August 27, 2007, she released her debut single, “Tattoo“,[16] which peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Sparks’ first top ten hit on the chart.[14] The song certified platinum in the United States[17] and Australia.[18] To date, “Tattoo” has sold over two million copies in the U.S.[19]
Sparks released her self-titled debut studio album on November 20, 2007,[20] which debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200. To date, it has sold over a million copies in the U.S[21] and was certified platinum by the RIAA.[17] “No Air“, a duet with Chris Brown, was released as the second single from the album in February 2008. In the United States, the song peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming Sparks’ best-charting single to date.[14] It was also her first song to appear on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, where it reached number four.[14] To date, the song has sold over three million copies in the U.S, making Sparks the first American Idol contestant to reach the three million mark.[22] It also became Brown’s first song to hit three million. “No Air” also charted in Australia[23] and New Zealand,[24] where it reached number one, receiving platinum certifications in both countries.[18][25]
On February 3, 2008, Sparks sang the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLII.[26] She performed in a tribute to Aretha at the NAACP Awards in February, as well. She had previously performed in a tribute to Diana Ross in December 2007.
In support of the album, Sparks opened for Alicia Keys on the North America leg of her As I Am Tour, starting on April 19, 2008.[27] Before the tour, a career-threatening throat injury forced Sparks to cancel a few weeks of the shows. Officials revealed she was suffering an acute vocal cord hemorrhage and was ordered strict vocal rest until the condition improved.[28] Sparks was back on the road by April 30, 2008 and remained on the tour until June 18, 2008. Sparks later joined Keys for the tour leg in Australia and New Zealand in December 2008.[29][30]
The album’s third single, “One Step at a Time“, was released in June 2008. It peaked at number seventeen on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Sparks her fourth top twenty hit on the chart.[14] This makes Sparks the only American Idol contestant to have her first four singles reach the top twenty of the Hot 100. It also charted in the top twenty in Australia,[23] Canada,[14] and the United Kingdom.[31] In New Zealand, the song reached number two[24] and was certified gold by the RIANZ.[25] In August 2008, Sparks co-headlined the Jesse & Jordin LIVE Tour with Jesse McCartney in the United States.[32]
Sparks received two MTV Video Music Award nominations for Best Female Video for “No Air” and Best New Artist at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.[33] While at the awards show, Sparks caused controversy by responding to a joke made by host Russell Brand during his opening monologue, in which he held up a silver ring, claiming to have relieved one of the Jonas Brothers of their virginity,[34] saying he would “take them more seriously if they wore it (the ring) around their genitals”. Sparks who also wears a promise ring, began her introduction of T.I. and Rihanna by saying “It’s not bad to wear a promise ring because not everybody, guy or girl, wants to be a slut.” In response to the controversy over her “slut” remark, Sparks told Entertainment Weekly that she doesn’t regret the remark, commenting that “I wish I would’ve worded it differently – that somebody who doesn’t wear a promise ring isn’t necessarily a slut – but I can’t take it back now.”[35] At the 2008 American Music Awards, Sparks won the award for Favorite Artist in the Adult Contemporary Category.[36]

2009–2010: Battlefield

On January 20, 2009, Sparks performed “Faith” at the Commander-in-Chief’s Inaugural Ball, hosted by President Barack Obama.[37] Her second studio album, Battlefield was released in the United States on July 21, 2009.[38] The album’s title track was released as the lead single on May 25, 2009 and reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100.[14] The song peaked in the top five in Australia,[23] Canada,[14] and New Zealand.[24] In the United States, Battlefield debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, peaking higher than her debut album’s position of number ten. However, the album was notably unsuccessful compared to her debut, only selling 177,000 copies in the U.S[21] and having failed to earn any chart certificates.
In support of the album, Sparks opened for The Jonas Brothers on the North America leg of the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009, starting on June 20, 2009.[39] She also opened for Britney Spears on the second leg of her Circus Tour in North America, beginning on August 24, 2009.[40] Sparks served as a replacement for Ciara.
“S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)“, was released as the second single from Battlefield on September 15, 2009.[41] The song topped the U.S Hot Dance Club Songs chart, becoming Sparks’ first number one on the chart[14] and peaked in the top fifteen in the United Kingdom.[31] During this time, she recorded the duet, “Art of Love“, with Australian artist Guy Sebastian for his fifth studio album, Like It Like That. The song reached the top ten in Australia[23] and New Zealand[24] and was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association.[42] The third single from Battlefield, “Don’t Let It Go to Your Head“, was released in the United Kingdom on January 8, 2010.[43] The song reached a peak of #16 on the UK Singles Chart despite no physical release.
In May 2010, Sparks embarked on her first headlining tour in the United States, the Battlefield Tour.[44] It began on May 1, 2010 and ended on July 18, 2010, stopping in over 35 major cities in the United States. In support of the DVD/Blu-Ray re-release of the Disney animated film, Beauty and the Beast, Sparks recorded a cover of the film’s title track for the soundtrack.[45] A music video for the song was released on October 18, 2010.[46]

2010–present: Third studio album

In a October 2010 interview, Sparks revealed she had begun working on her third studio album.[47] During an interview with Good Day New York in November 2010, Sparks confirmed she would be recording the album in New York and Arizona.[48] In January 2011, it was reported that Sparks and John Legend were working on songs together in the studio.[49] In March 2011, Sparks recorded a music video for a song called “The World I Knew” for the film, African Cats, which was released on April 22, 2011.[50] To support her third album, Sparks will serve as an opening act for the NKOTBSB summer tour.[51] On May 5, 2011, it was revealed that Sparks’ lead single for her forthcoming album is titled “I Am Woman“.[52] On May 12, 2011, Sparks performed “I Am Woman” on the American Idol Top 4 results show.[53] “I Am Woman” debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number eighty-two with 33,000 downloads sold.[54][55] It also debuted on the US BillboardDigital Songs at number fifty-seven.[56] Sparks performed “I Am Woman” on Regis and Kelly on June 14th.[57][58][59].

Other ventures

Clothing line

In April 2008, it was announced that Sparks would team up with cosmetics company, Avon, to become a spokesperson for the teen-focused line Mark. In November 2008, Sparks teamed up with Wet Seal to create her own clothing line. The collection, appropriately named ‘Sparks’, began with an assortment of holiday dresses delivering to stores just in time for the busy Thanksgiving weekend. The line launched on November 19, 2008 and comes in sizes XS to XL. Sparks said, “I am so excited that Wet Seal and I have been able to create a line of clothing that will appeal to more girls than ever before.”[60]

Acting

In 2009, she made her acting debut on Disney’s The Suite Life on Deck, guest starring as herself in the “Crossing Jordin” episode. The episode guest starring Sparks aired on October 23, 2009.[61][62] Sparks also guest starred on the hit Nickelodeon show, Big Time Rush. The episode aired on June 18, 2010.[63]

Broadway

On May 3, 2010, it was announced that Sparks would join the cast of the Tony Award-winning Broadway show “In the Heights” as Nina Rosario. Sparks took part in the production from August 19 through November 14 for a consecutive 12 weeks.[64]

Fragrance

In October 2010, Sparks released her debut fragrance “Because of You….” This fragrance is currently being exclusively distributed at Dots, but by November will spread to other retail stores. The perfume is described as a “fruity floriental perfume” consisting of notes of “clementine, white imperial currant and orange blossom; a heart of nectarine, sharry baby orchid and coral charm peony; and a drydown of sheer musks, vanilla bean, Baltic amber and blond woods.” Sparks wanted this product to be affordable for her fans, yet still high end. “When I was starting this project, I really wanted it to be affordable. I looked at some other celebrity fragrances, and they were like $80. Even now, I look at a fragrance that’s $80, and I can’t bring myself to spend that much.”[65]

Charitable work

In 2007, Sparks was asked by a relative who works for SOS Children’s Villages USA in Florida to design a denim jacket festooned with Swarovski Crystal to support orphans. In February 2008, Sparks traveled to Ghana. She was part of the delegation of former U.S. President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush to help with Malaria No More, an organization with a goal to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015. Sparks joined Mrs. Bush at the Maamobi Polyclinic, where the First Lady donated a number of treated bed nets to some local female traders in order to help combat the scourge of malaria in Ghana. While there, Sparks sang “Amazing Grace” to the durbar of chiefs who had gathered at the venue to give audience to Laura Bush. Sparks said, “Traveling to Ghana with Malaria No More gives me the incredible opportunity to see for myself what a difference a simple mosquito net can make in the life of a child.”

On May 20, 2009, Sparks became an endorser for the Got Milk? campaign, an American advertising campaign encouraging the consumption of cow’s milk On September 17, 2009, Sparks took part in the VH1 Divas special, a concert created to support the channel’s Save The Music Foundation[70] The concert was held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York where Sparks performed the second single from her Battlefield album, S.O.S. (Let the Music Play), as well as “A Broken Wing” with Martina McBride. In February 2010, Sparks was one of the many artists who contributed to “We Are the World 25 for Haiti“, a charity single for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[71] Sparks teamed up with Pennyroyal Silver creator and designer, Tim Foster to create her very own necklace design for the company’s signature collection. Proceeds of the necklace funded medical units in Haiti.[72]
On February 3, 2010, Sparks and David Archuleta performed at the “X the TXT” event, held at the Eden Roc Renaissance Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. All proceeds raised by the event went to a number of charities, including the Miami Children’s Hospital Foundation. The following day both Sparks and Archuleta delivered teddy bears to children at the hospital.[73] In June 2010, the “Thumbs Up to X the TXT” pledge campaign, established by “The Allstate Corporation”, made its way to Sparks’ Battlefield Tour, presented by Mike & Ike to encourage teens and their families not to text while driving. Fans at Sparks’ concerts made a pledge not to text and drive by adding their thumbprint to a traveling banner at each of her shows. The campaign began at Sparks’ Battlefield Tour on June 3, 2010 and ended on July 18, 2010.[74] Sparks is the main spokesperson for the “I’m M.A.D., Are You?” campaign. She also supports Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which helps to raise money for children with cancer.[75] Sparks traveled to Louisiana in June 2010 to visit the Gulf Coast oil spill with the Audubon Society to view the effects of the oil spill on the wildlife and marshes.[76] Sparks is also is a member of the National Youth Leadership Committee for the Ronald Reagan Centennial Celebration, along with Nick Jonas, Genvieve Ryan, and Brodi Conover.

Vaughn was born August 8, 1978 inIdabel, Oklahoma. She began her performing career at the age of three in 1981 singing at church. At age nine in 1988, she sang “I’ll Be There” to win theStar Searchjunior vocalist champion and overall junior champion. She was married to Joseph James, with whom she has a son Jaylin. During an appearance on the Mo’Nique Show, she shared that she also has a daughter.

Vaughn appeared in the third season ofCelebrity Fit Clubwhich premiered in January 2006 onVH1. On episode four,she announced that her and husband, James, were ending their marriage. During the course of the show, she became the first cast member to ever gain weight, with a weight gain of 4 pounds. It was said on the season finale that she was simply trying to lose weight at the wrong time.

Celebrity Rap Superstar

Vaughn appears as a contestant on MTV’sCelebrity Rap Superstarwhich premiered August 30, 2007. She studied underWarren Gfor the show. On September 27, 2007, an illness caused her to be eliminated from the competition.

Wyle, the middle of three children, was born in Hollywood, California, the son of Marjorie a registered orthopedic head nurse, and Stephen Wyle, an electrical engineer and entrepreneur.[1] His father was Jewish and his mother Episcopalian, and he was raised “fairly nondenominationally”.[2][3] Wyle’s parents divorced in the late 1970s and his mother later married James C. Katz, a film restorationist[4] with three children of his own from a previous marriage. Wyle’s paternal grandparents, Edith and Frank Wyle, founded the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum. Edith Wyle was an expressionist painter who also created The Egg and The Eye, an innovative café and shop on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles, which soon became the preferred hangout for artists, travelers and dreamers.[5]

Education

Wyle was educated at The Thacher School in Ojai, California, and graduated with the class of 1989. Wyle participated in a theater arts program at Northwestern University after his junior year of high school and appeared in high school plays, even winning an award for a play he wrote. After graduation, he studied with acting teacher Larry Moss while living in a small apartment on Hollywood Boulevard.

Wyle’s big break came when he was given the pilot script for ER and was cast as medical student John Carter. Wyle was the only major cast member of ER to have been with the show since its inception (1994) when he left after its eleventh season (2005). His performances on the show earned him Emmy Award nominations in each of its first five seasons. As part of an ensemble he was nominated several times for the Screen Actors Guild Award, he was recognized with three Golden Globe nominations as Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television and won the 2001 TV Guide Award for Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Wyle left the series at the end of the eleventh season, although he returned in guest appearances for a four-episode arc during the twelfth season. He stated that he left because he wanted to spend more time with his family and friends and to make room for the upcoming generation. However, in 2009, Wyle returned to ER during its 15th and final season for five episodes, including the series finale. According to the Guinness World Records 2005 Special 50th Anniversary Edition, Wyle became the holder of a “Highest paid TV drama actor per episode” record during the 2003/04 season, earning approximately $400,000 per episode. While on ER, Wyle’s estimated salary was $9 million a year. Wyle has also appeared in the most episodes of ER, 255, 4 more than Laura Innes.*[6]

Stage

Along with his film and television career, Wyle has also appeared on stage appearing in a 1995 Los Angeles stage production of The 24th Day with Peter Berg. With The Blank Theatre Company, he performed in The Who, and more recently in Lobster Alice, with Nicholas Brendon, where he played the surrealist painter Salvador Dalí. For his work as one of the producers of The Wild Party at the Blank Theare, he won an NAACP Theatre Award.[7] Wyle has also produced Missouri Waltz at the theatre.

Falling Skies

Wyle is the lead in TNT‘s new sci-fi series from Steven Spielberg titled Falling Skies. Wyle plays the leader of a group of soldiers and civilians that battle against an alien force, according to the network.[8]

Personal life

Wyle dated several women, including actressSamantha Mathis. While filming The Myth of Fingerprints in 1996, he met make-up artist Tracy Warbin. After proposing to her on Valentine’s Day in 1999, they married on May 6, 2000. Together, they have a son, Owen Strausser Speer Wyle (born November 9, 2002), and a daughter, Auden Wyle (born October 15, 2005). Warbin’s pregnancy with Auden was announced on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Wyle bought Bo Derek‘s ranch in Santa Ynez Valley, California, in June 1999, for approximately $2.5 million. They listed their Los Feliz (Los Angeles) home at close to $4.4 million. The traditional-style house was designed by architect Paul Williams, was built in 1934 and has a theater, a detached guest house-office and a landscaped yard with city views, a pool, a koi pond, a patio and a fire pit.

Wyle and Warbin, his wife of almost 10 years, separated in late October 2009, according to People magazine. The couple live in separate residences, and both see their two children daily.[9]

In 1999, Wyle made an appearance during the beginning of Steve Jobs‘ Macworld Expokeynote presentation, initially pretending to be Jobs. When the audience caught on, Jobs himself appeared and began to banter with Wyle.[10] It was a practical joke by Jobs and Wyle in light of the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley.
Wyle devotes much of his free time to the international non-profit organization Doctors of the World and to his work as a member of the Human Rights Watch Council. Wyle also serves as the voluntary artistic producer of the Blank Theatre Company in Hollywood, which stages annual young playwrights festival and whose alumni include Ed Asner, Sarah Michelle Gellar, D. B. Sweeney, James Kerwin, Amber Benson, Megan Henning, Travis Schuldt, Warren Davis, Grant Show, and Nicholas Brendon. He also recently acquired Second Stage Theater (Los Angeles) in Hollywood, where the company has mounted numerous successful productions.
Wyle was the spokesperson for The Cover the Uninsured campaign in 2004, which had as Honorary Co-Chairs former Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter. The Cover the Uninsured Week is annually held in the United States of America and focuses attention on the nearly 44 million Americans who go without health care coverage. The campaign includes several events among different communities, health and enrollment fairs, press conferences and business seminars all over the U.S. Additionally, Wyle is also a vegetarian and a supporter of animal rights, having started a farm intended as sanctuary for abused and rescued animals. Wyle has also become a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund, dedicated to protecting and conserving wildlife for future generations.[11]
In 2009, Noah Wyle became a spokesperson for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), claiming that polar bears are “hanging on by a thread” and “may be extinct in our children’s lifetime, due to the effects of climate change.”[12]

Who is Adrienne-Joi Johnson? The entertainment and acting world knows her as A.J. Johnson. Johnson is an Americanactress, choreographer and fitness coach. Acting since 1988, Johnson has made many guest appearances on sitcoms, television dramas and music videos; she also has numerous supporting roles in films, including House Party and Baby Boy.

Early life

Johnson was born September 3, 1963, she graduated with honors in 1985 from Spelman College, the all-female college in Atlanta, Georgia. She is a past Miss Maroon & White and the first Miss Collegiate Black America. Originally from New Jersey, the former high school homecoming queen is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. She was initiated into the organization while attending Spelman College during her undergraduate years.

Personal life

In addition to being an actress and dancer, Johnson is also a wellness coach to celebrities and was the host of the VH1reality fitness competition From Flab to Fab and has made numerous fitness/healthy living television and magazine appearances. Johnson has been the spokesperson for American Cancer Society (having lost her mother to cancer at age 17), weight loss products and has made appearances for Procter & Gamble, GSK Pharmeceuticals and Wal Mart.

Who is Cynthia Ann Crawford? Cindy Crawford is an American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1‘s 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s. Her success at modeling made her a celebrity that has led to roles in television and film, and to work as a spokesperson.

Career

During the 1980s and 1990s, Cindy Crawford was among the most popular supermodels, and a ubiquitous presence on magazine covers, runways, and in fashion campaigns. She was repeatedly and frequently featured on the cover of many magazines, including: Vogue, W, People, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Cosmopolitan, and Allure. A partial count in 1998 totalled over 400 appearances.[6] Crawford also appeared in many fashion campaigns during her career, including those for Gianni Versace, Escada, Revlon, Ink. She has also worked for Omega, Maybelline, and Clairol.
In 1987, Crawford appeared during the opening credits of the Michael J. Fox film The Secret of My Success. Three years later she appeared in the video for George Michael‘s “Freedom ’90” alongside other models Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz and Naomi Campbell. Subsequently, Crawford played the lost love of Jon Bon Jovi in the video for his 1994 version of “Please Come Home For Christmas“.
The red Versace dress which she wore to the 63rd Academy Awards in 1991 had a major influence on fashion, and many copies and fakes of the dress were produced.[7][8][9] In 1992, Crawford—through GoodTimes Home Video and her company Craw Daddy Productions—made an exercise video with Radu Teodorescu named Cindy Crawford: Shape Your Body; although criticised by some for being unsafe, it was hugely successful and led to two equally lucrative followups, Cindy Crawford: The Next Challenge in 1993 (again with Radu) and Cindy Crawford: A New Dimension in 2000 (the latter, made with fitness expert Kathy Kaehler and produced not long after Cindy gave birth to her first child, was aimed at new mothers getting back into shape). In 2001, Cindy also made a shorter fitness video aimed at children, Mini-Muscles with Cindy Crawford and the Fit-wits, an animated production featuring the voices of Cindy (who also appears at the beginning in live action), Radu and Kobe Bryant.

The inaugural issue of George, a short lived political magazine in the 1990s, featured Crawford dressed like George Washington on the cover. In 2005, The American Society of Magazine Editors listed it as the 22nd best magazine cover of the last 40 years.[10]
Crawford is 5 feet 9 inches tall,[1] with brown hair and eyes. Her measurements are 34″-26″-35″.[2] Crawford’s trademark is a mole (or “beauty mark“) above her upper lip. She is so closely associated with this physical feature that she appeared in an advertising campaign for chocolates featuring commercials wherein she “licked off” her own mole. During the beginning of her career, the mole was removed from her earlier modeling pictures, including her first Vogue cover. Her resemblance early in her career to model Gia Carangi led her to being known as “Baby Gia”.
Crawford has also been on TV and in films. From 1989 to 1995, Crawford was host of MTV‘s House of Style. In the early 1990s, Crawford starred in the Pepsi and Pepsi Stuff advertising.[11][12] In 1995, Crawford broke into movies as the female lead in the movie Fair Game. Her performance was panned by critics— Leonard Maltin commented “In her acting debut, supermodel Crawford makes a good jogger.”[13] The film was also a financial failure, with expenses of $50 million and $11 million takings at the box office. In 2001, she costarred as part of an ensemble cast in The Simian Line. Again the film was not successful or critically acclaimed, but Crawford’s acting was not criticized. She has had many lesser roles guest starring on TV and as supporting roles, often playing herself. For example, in 2000, she was one of the celebrities (along with Victoria Silvstedt, Anna Falchi and Megan Gale) playing themselves in the Italian comedy Bodyguards – Guardie del corpo.
In July 1988, she posed nude for Playboy magazine in a shoot by photographer Herb Ritts.[14] In October 1998, Crawford returned to the pages of Playboy for a second nude pictorial, again taken by Ritts.[15]
Crawford has consistently ranked highly on lists of the world’s sexiest people. She was ranked number 5 on Playboy’s list of the 100 Sexiest Stars of the 20th century. A 1997 Shape magazine survey of 4,000 picked her as the second (after Demi Moore) most beautiful woman in the world. In 2002, Crawford was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People magazine. In her forties, she claimed #26 in the 2006 Hot 100 issue of Maxim magazine.[16]
Fashion designer Michael Kors summed up her impact:

After modelingCrawford quit modeling in 2000; however, she still appears from time to time in (and on the covers of) fashion magazines in new shoots. She continues to provide celebrity endorsement for a variety of projects. In 2005, Crawford created a line of beauty products with Dr. Jean-Louis Sebagh called Meaningful Beauty for Guthy-Renker. Crawford has admitted to regularly receiving certain cosmetic procedures, including Botox and vitamin injections. She first saw a plastic surgeon at the age of 29.[18]In 2005, Crawford launched a new line of furniture under the “Cindy Crawford Home Collection” name. This collection is manufactured by HM Richards Inc., and is sold through many retailers including Art Van Furniture and Rooms To Go. She assisted in the creation of the line by directing the designers to include certain features, colors, or styles that fit the needs of families or reflected her own tastes.[19] She also has a furniture line with Raymour & Flanigan and launched another home goods line with J. C. Penney in late 2009.[20]
Crawford came back to modeling in May 2011, landing the cover of May 2011 issue of Vogue Mexico.[21]

Personal life

Crawford was married to actor Richard Gere between 1991 and 1995; although they had no children, she cited him as one of the more influential people in her life (after her parents). She has been married to Rande Gerber since May 29, 1998, with whom she has two children, Presley Walker (born July 2, 1999) and Kaia Jordan (born September 3, 2001). She currently resides in Malibu, California.

Activism and charity work

When Crawford was 10 years old, her younger brother Jeff – whom she continues to praise as “the fourth most influential person in my life” – died of leukemia. Since becoming a model, Crawford has made childhood leukemia a focal point of her charity work, donating proceeds of her calendars to medical research.[22] She is also an honorary board member of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.[23]
In 2007, she became an official supporter of the Ronald McDonald House Charities and is a member of their celebrity board, called the Friends of RMHC.[24] Crawford is on the Honorary Committee of the California Wildlife Center.[25]

Who is Nigella Lucy Lawson? The food critic word know Nigella Lawson as an English food writer, journalist and broadcaster. Lawson is the daughter of Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Vanessa Salmon, whose family owned the J. Lyons and Co. empire. After graduating from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University, Lawson started work as a book reviewer and restaurant critic, later becoming the deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times in 1986. She then embarked upon a career as a freelance journalist, writing for a number of newspapers and magazines. In 1998, Lawson brought out her first cookery book, How to Eat, which sold 300,000 copies and became a bestseller. She went on to write her second book in 2000, How to be a Domestic Goddess, winning her the British Book Award for Author of the Year.

In 2000, she began to host her own cookery series on Channel 4, Nigella Bites, which was accompanied with another bestselling cookery book. The Nigella Bites series won Lawson a Guild of Food Writers Award; however her 2005 ITV daytime chat show was met with a negative critical reaction and was cancelled after attracting low ratings. Lawson hosted the Food Network‘s Nigella Feasts in the United States in 2006 followed by a three-part BBC Two series, Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen, in the United Kingdom. This led to the commissioning of Nigella Express on BBC Two in 2007. Her own cookware range, Living Kitchen, has a value of £7 million, and she has sold more than 3 million cookery books worldwide.
Renowned for her flirtatious manner of presenting, Lawson has been called the “queen of food porn“. She is neither a trained chef nor cook, and has assumed a distinctly relaxed approach to her cooking.

Background

Lawson was born 6 January 1960.Her given name originally being thought up by her grandmother,[3] Nigella Lawson is a daughter of Nigel Lawson, Baron Lawson of Blaby,[4] a Conservative MP, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Margaret Thatcher‘s cabinet, and Vanessa Salmon (1936–1985),[5] a socialite, “celebrated beauty”[6] and heiress to the J. Lyons & Co. fortune.[7] Her family kept homes in Kensington and Chelsea,[8] and were noted for their luxurious life-style.[9] In the 1960s, Peregrine Worsthorne wrote that Vanessa and her daughters looked “as if they had stepped straight out of a Visconti film set”.[10] Lawson’s parents divorced in 1980. They both remarried; her father in 1980 to a House of Commons researcher, Therese Maclear (to whom he was married until 2008,[11]) and her mother, in the early 1980s, to philosopher, Sir A.J. Ayer (they remained married until her mother’s death).[7] With Lawson’s father being a prominent politician, some of the things she found most frustrating were the many judgements and pre-conceptions made about her.[3] There was a time when Lawson did not get on with her father, mostly during her parents’ divorce, and she became friendly with her mother only when she reached adulthood.[12] Being unhappy as a child has been attributed, by Lawson, partly to the problematic relationship she had with her mother.[8]Lawson’s school years were difficult; she had to move schools nine times between the ages of 9 and 18, spending some of her childhood in the Welsh town of Higher Kinnerton. “I was just difficult, disruptive, good at school work, but rude, I suspect, and too highly-strung”, Lawson reflected.[13] Her father originally chose not to believe the reports of her disruptive behaviour and thought the school had the wrong person.[12] Lawson reluctantly attended a private school in the Midlands and later returned to London’s Godolphin and Latymer School sixth form where she began to show skill academically.[12] She worked for many department stores in London,[14] and went on to graduate from Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford[14] with a degree in mediæval and modern languages.[15] She also lived in Florence for a period.[16]
Lawson’s mother died of liver cancer in Westminster, London, aged 48, when Lawson was 25.[7][16] Her full-blood siblings are her brother, Dominic, former editor of The Sunday Telegraph, a sister, Horatia and sister Thomasina, who died of breast cancer in 1993 during her early thirties;[13][17][18] She has a half-brother Tom, and a half-sister Emily, her father’s children by his second wife. Lawson is a cousin to both George Monbiot and Fiona Shackleton through the Salmons.[19]
Taking part in the third series of the BBC family-history documentary series, Who Do You Think You Are?, Lawson sought to uncover some of her family’s ancestry. She traced her ancestors to Ashkenazi Jews who originate from eastern Europe and Germany, leaving Lawson surprised not to have Iberian–Sephardi ancestry in the family as she had believed.[20] She also uncovered that her maternal great-great-great grandfather, Coenraad Sammes (later Coleman Joseph), had fled to England from Amsterdam in 1830 to escape a prison sentence following a conviction for theft.[20][21] It was his daughter, Hannah, who married Samuel Gluckstein, father-in-law and business partner of Barnett Salmon and father of Isidore and Montague Gluckstein, who together with Barnett founded J. Lyons and Co. in 1887.[20][22]

Career

Early work

Lawson originally worked in publishing, first taking a job under publisher Naim Attallah.[14] At 23, she commenced her journalism career after Charles Moore had invited her to write for The Spectator.[14] Her initial work at the magazine consisted of writing book reviews,[23][24] after which period she became a restaurant critic there in 1985.[13] She became the deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times in 1986 at the age of 26.[13][25] Lawson occasionally drifted into the public’s eye, attracting unwanted publicity in 1989 when she admitted voting for Labour in an election as opposed to her father’s Conservative Party, and then criticised Margaret Thatcher in print.[7] Regarding her political relationship with her father, Lawson has stated, “My father would never expect me to agree with him about anything in particular. And, to be honest, we never talk about politics much.”[26]
After her stint at The Sunday Times, Lawson embarked upon a freelance writing career, realizing that “I was on the wrong ladder. I didn’t want to be an executive, being paid to worry rather than think”.[8] In the United Kingdom, she wrote for The Daily Telegraph, the Evening Standard, The Observer and The Times Literary Supplement, and penned a food column for Vogue[27] and a makeup column for The Times Magazine,[8] as well as working with Gourmet and Bon Appétit in the United States.[28] After just two weeks working on Talk Radio in 1995, Lawson was sacked after she had stated her shopping was done for her, which was deemed incompatible with the radio station’s desired “common touch”.[7]

1998–2002: Cookery writing and Nigella Bites

Lawson had an established sense of cooking from her childhood, having had a mother who enjoyed to cook.[8] Lawson conceived the idea of writing a cookery book after she observed a dinner party host in tears because of an unset crème caramel.[29]How to Eat was subsequently written in 1998,[13] featuring culinary tips on preparation and saving time.[29] The book became a success and sold 300,000 copies in the UK;[23]The Sunday Telegraph dubbed it “the most valuable culinary guide published this decade”.[30]
Lawson then wrote How to be a Domestic Goddess in 2000, which focused primarily on baking[16] and also became a bestseller. The Times wrote, regarding the book and Lawson’s approach to its writing, “How To Be a Domestic Goddess … is defined by its intimate, companionable approach. She is not issuing matronly instructions like Delia; she is merely making sisterly suggestions”.[8] Lawson rejected feminist criticism of her book,[31] and stated, “Some people did take the domestic goddess title literally rather than ironically. It was about the pleasures of feeling like one rather than actually being one”.[4] The book sold 180,000 copies in four months,[29] and won Lawson the title of Author of the Year at the British Book Awards in 2001,[23] fending off competition from authors such as J. K. Rowling.[32] One commentator suggested she won the award only because her husband was about to die of cancer.[23] Lawson retorted, “I am not against pity, but I have no desire to be tragic”.[23]How to Eat and How to be a Domestic Goddess were published in America in 2000 and 2001.[33] As a result of the book’s success, The Observer took on Lawson as a social affairs columnist.[13]
Lawson next hosted her own cookery television series, Nigella Bites, which ran from 2000 to 2001 on Channel 4,[34][35] followed by a Christmas special in 2001.[36]Victor Lewis-Smith, a critic notorious for his biting criticism, commended Lawson for being “formidably charismatic”.[4] The first series of Nigella Bites averaged 1.9 million viewers,[37] and won her the Television Broadcast of the Year at the Guild of Food Writers Awards[38] and the Best Television Food Show at the World Food Media Awards in 2001.[39] The show yielded an accompanying bestselling recipe book, also called Nigella Bites,[40] for which Waterstone’s book stores reported UK sales of over 300,000.[41] The book won a W H Smith Award for Lifestyle Book of the Year.[42]
The Nigella Bites series, which was filmed in her home in west London, was later broadcast on American television on channels E![43] and Style Network.[23] Lawson said of the US release, “In the UK, my viewers have responded to the fact I’m trying to reduce, not add to, their burden and I’m looking forward to making that connection with Style viewers across the US”.[43] Overall, Lawson was well received in the United States.[26] Those who did criticise her often suggested she was too flirtatious; a commentator from The New York Times said, “Lawson’s sexy roundness mixed with her speed-demon technique makes cooking dinner with Nigella look like a prelude to an orgy”.[23] The book of Nigella Bites became the second bestselling cookery book of Christmas 2002 in America.[44] The series was followed by Forever Summer with Nigella in 2002 on Channel 4, the concept being, “that you cook to make you still feel as though you’re on holiday”.[26] Also in 2002, she began to write a fortnightly cooking articles for The New York Times,[5] and brought out a profitable line of kitchenware, called the Living Kitchen range, which is sold by numerous retailers.[27] Her range’s value has continued to grow, starting at an estimated £2 million in 2003,[45] and increasing to £7 million in 2007.[46]

2003–2006: Nigella Feasts and BBC contract

In November 2003, Lawson oversaw the menu and preparations for a lunch hosted by Tony Blair at Downing Street for George W. Bush and his wife during their state visit to the UK.[47]Laura Bush is said to be a fan of Lawson’s recipes and once included one of her soups as the starter for the 2002 presidential Christmas dinner.[44] Lawson’s fifth book, Feast Food that Celebrates Life, released in 2004,[48] made sales worth £3 million.[49] In a positive review, London’s Evening Standard wrote that the book “works both as a practical manual and an engrossing read. … Nobody else writes so openly about the emotional significance of food”.[50] Lawson appeared frequently on American television in 2004, conducting cookery slots on talk shows such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[51]
In the UK in 2005, Lawson started to host a daytime television chat show on ITV1 called Nigella, on which celebrity guests joined her in a studio kitchen.[21] The first episode debuted with a disappointing 800,000 viewers.[52] The show was met with a largely negative critical reaction,[53] and after losing 40 percent of its viewers in the first week, the show was cancelled.[54] Lawson later commented in an interview with Radio Times that on her first show, she was almost too frightened to come out of her dressing room.[55] Lawson further stated that having to pretend to be interested in the lives of the celebrities on her show became too much of an effort.[21] She also discovered, “I can’t ever be a presenter, and won’t do scripts”.[56]
Her third food-based television series, called Nigella Feasts, debuted on the USA’s Food Network in Autumn 2006 for a 13-week run.[54]Time magazine wrote a favorable review of the show; “the real appeal of Feasts … is her unfussy, wry, practical approach to entertaining and quality comfort food. … between the luscious camera shots and Lawson’s sensual enjoyment of eating, Feasts will leave you wishing for an invite”.[57] Since the American broadcasting, Lawson signed a £2.5 million deal for the series to be shown in ten other countries across the world.[58]
Lawson was next signed to BBC Two to host a three-part cookery show entitled Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen, which began on 6 December 2006 and aired weekly. The first two episodes secured the second highest ratings of the week for BBC Two, with the first episode debuting with a strong 3.5 million.[59][60] The final episode went on to become the top show on BBC Two the week that it was aired.[59]Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen won Lawson a second World Food Media Award in 2007.[61] Her influence as a food commentator was also demonstrated in late 2006, when after she had lauded goose fat as being an essential ingredient for Christmas, sales percentages of the product increased significantly in the UK. Waitrose and Tesco both stated that goose fat sales had more than doubled, as well as Asda‘s goose fat sales increasing by 65 percent from the previous week.[62] Similarly, after she advised using prunes in a recipe on Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen, Waitrose had increased sales of 30 percent year on year.[63][64]

2007–2009: Nigella Express and Nigella’s Christmas

Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen led to the commissioning of a 13-part cookery series entitled Nigella Express.[65] The series began to air on BBC Two on 3 September 2007, suggesting ways of making simple and quick dishes.[66] Lawson admitted the recipes were not “particularly healthy”,[67] although she added, “I wouldn’t describe them as junk”.[68] The show became another ratings success and one of BBC Two’s top-rated shows each week.[69] The first episode debuted with 2.85 million viewers,[69] a high percentage above the channel’s slot average.[70] The second episode’s viewing figures rose to 3.3 million,[71] and the series peaked at 3.4 million on 22 October 2007.[72] Her influence with the public was again demonstrated when sales of Riesling wine increased by 30 percent in the UK after she had incorporated it into her Coq au Riesling recipe on Nigella Express.[73] Later on a separate occasion, a similar trend was seen in the sales figures of the liqueurAdvocaat after Lawson had endorsed it on the show.[74]
The television series of Nigella Express was subject to criticism from the Daily Mail when it emerged that a bus Lawson was seen travelling on during the programme had been hired and filled with extras.[46] The producers responded by saying, “This series is a factual entertainment cooking show, not an observational documentary and it is perfectly normal procedure”.[46] There was further controversy when it was revealed that the kitchens in which Lawson was seen cooking were in two separate locations; one in her home and the other in a London television studio.[46] Lawson also came under criticism when viewers complained that she had gained weight since the debut episode of the series.[75] Critics criticised the series for containing what they described as “scenes of gluttony not seen since the golden age of the Cookie Monster“[76] and commenting that her “largesse may have left her just that little bit larger.”[76]The Guardian however, noted, “the food matches her appearance — flawless, polished and sexy”.[77] The rights to Nigella Express have been sold to the Food Network in America,[46] and to Discovery Asia.[78] The series was nominated at the 35th Daytime Emmy Awards in the United States for Outstanding Lifestyle Program, and Lawson herself for the Outstanding Lifestyle Host.[79]
The accompanying book to Nigella Express was released in the UK in September 2007, America in November 2007,[46] and later in Australia in 2008.[80] Sharing the same name as the television series, the book became another bestseller in the UK,[81] and was outselling another television chef, Jamie Oliver, by 100,000 copies according to Waterstone’s.[41] It was reported that over 490,000 copies had been sold by mid-December in the UK.[41] Furthermore, the book was number one for a period on Amazon UK’s bestselling books,[41] and was ninth on their overall list of Christmas bestsellers in any category.[82] Paul Levy from The Guardian wrote that the tone of the recipes was “just right. One of the appealing things about Nigella’s brief introductions to each of them is that she thinks not just as cook, but as eater, and tells you whether they’re messy, sticky or fussy”.[77] Lawson is now estimated to have sold more than 3 million books worldwide.[83] Her Christmas book was released in October 2008 and the television show in December of the same year. An American edition of the book “Nigella Christmas” with a different cover photograph was released in November 2009 with an accompanying book tour of several US cities and a special on the USA’s Food Network.

Presenting style and image

Though Lawson has enjoyed a successful career in cookery, she is not a trained chef,[84] and does not like being referred to as a “celebrity chef”.[3] Furthermore, she does not see herself as a cook or an expert in her field.[16] Throughout Lawson’s television programmes,[85] she emphasises that she cooks for her own pleasure,[8] for enjoyment,[4] and that she finds cooking therapeutic.[16] When deciding upon which recipes to feature in her books, she takes the view of the eater, stating, “If it’s something I don’t want to carry on eating once I’m full, then I don’t want the recipe… I have to feel that I want to cook the thing again”.[16]
Lawson has adopted a casual approach to cooking, stating, “I think cooking should be about fun and family. … I think part of my appeal is that my approach to cooking is really relaxed and not rigid. There are no rules in my kitchen”.[84] One editor, highlighting the technical simplicity of Lawson’s recipes, noted that “her dishes require none of the elaborate preparation called for by most TV chefs”.[86]

Lawson has become renowned for her flirtatious manner of presenting, although she argues, “It’s not meant to be flirtatious. … I don’t have the talent to adopt a different persona. It’s intimate, not flirtatious”.[21] The perceived overt sexuality of her presentation style has led to Lawson’s being called the “queen of food porn“.[12][87][88] Many commentators have alluded to Lawson’s attractiveness, and she was once named as one of the world’s most beautiful women.[16] She has been referred to as “stunningly beautiful, warm, honest, likeable and amazingly normal”,[13] as well as being described as having “flawless skin, perfect white teeth, a voluptuous body, ample height and lots of lush, brown hair”.[84] The media has also noted Lawson’s ability to engage with both male and female viewers;[4][24][89]The Guardian wrote, “Men love her because they want to be with her. Women love her because they want to be her”.[3] The chef, Gary Rhodes, spoke out against Lawson by suggesting that her viewers take preference to her smile rather than the cooking itself.[90] Despite often being labelled as a domestic goddess,[91] she insists that she exhibits very few of the qualities associated with the title.[24][26]
Lawson is also known for her vivid and adjective-filled food descriptions in both her books and television programmes,[92] as one critic summarized, “her descriptions of food can be a tangle of adjectives.”[33] In a study conducted in 2007 on the readability of different recipes, the chatty and florid style of Lawson’s recipes was judged to be confusing to readers with weak reading skills.[93] Lawson has also expressed her surprise at how many reviews in the United States have mentioned her class and posh accent.[7]
Comedians and commentators have taken to mocking Lawson’s style of presentation, particularly in a regularly occurring impersonation of her in the BBC comedy series Dead Ringers, because they perceive that she plays overtly upon her attractiveness and sexuality as a device to engage viewers of her cookery programmes.[94] Impressions by Ronni Ancona that further parodied Lawson’s presenting style have also been featured on the BBC One impersonation sketch show, The Big Impression.[26]

Personal life

Lawson was in a relationship with human rights lawyer Geoffrey RobertsonQC until 1988, when he left her for novelist Kathy Lette.[95]
Lawson met journalist John Diamond in 1986, when they were both writing for The Sunday Times.[13] They married in Venice in 1992,[12] and had two children together, both born in Hammersmith, London: Cosima Thomasina (born 1994) and Bruno Paul (born 1996).[2][96] Diamond was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997, and died of the disease in March 2001, aged 47.[23] One of his last messages to Lawson was, “How proud I am of you and what you have become. The great thing about us is that we have made us who we are.”[4] His death occurred during the filming of Nigella Bites; “I took a fortnight off. But I’m not a great believer in breaks,” Lawson explained,[4] but she did suffer a bout of depression.[3] After his death, Lawson kept all of the press clippings in what she called her “Morbidobox”.[4]

Lawson married art collector Charles Saatchi in September 2003,[97] having drawn disapproval when she moved in with him nine months after Diamond’s death.[12] Lawson had also come under criticism when it was suggested she started her relationship with Saatchi before Diamond’s death.[98] Saatchi is worth a reputed £100 million,[99] while Lawson is worth £15 million as of 2007, £8 million of which came from book sales.[58] It widely began circulating in the media in early 2008 that Lawson had been quoted as saying her two children should not inherit any of the fortune.[99] She strongly denied these plans in a statement on her personal website, which read, “Of course I have no intention of leaving my children destitute and starving — rather, this is a story that came from a comment I made about my belief that you have to work in order to learn the value of money”.[100]
Although both of Lawson’s parents are Jewish, Judaism has played no significant part religiously in her life, but she believes that she has developed a somewhat “Jewish character”.[3] She was brought up without any religion and she considers herself an atheist.[12][101] In one of her newspaper articles, she has shown a liberal attitude to sexuality (“most [women] simply have, somewhere, a fantasy about having sex, in a non-defining, non-exclusive way, with other women”).[102] She has said that she often partakes in watching football and is an avid supporter of Chelsea.[103]
Lawson is a supporter of the Lavender Trust which gives support to young women with breast cancer. She first became involved with the charity in 2002 when she baked some lavender cupcakes to be auctioned at a fundraising event, which sold for a significant amount of money. She subsequently featured the recipe in her book, Forever Summer with Nigella.[104]
It was revealed by leaked Whitehall documents in 2003 that Lawson declined an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II in 2001.[105] As the daughter of a life peer, Nigella is entitled to the courtesy title of “The Honourable” and is thus styled The Hon. Nigella Lawson. However she does not use this courtesy title.
In December 2008, Lawson caused major controversy and was featured in various newspapers for publicly advocating wearing fur. Lawson also remarked that she would love to kill a bear and then wear it.[106][107]
Lawson was featured as one of the three judges on the special battle of Iron Chef America, titled “The Super Chef Battle”, which pitted White House Executive Chef Christeta Comerford and Iron Chef Bobby Flay against super chef Emeril Lagasse and Iron Chef Mario Batali, which was originally broadcast on January 3, 2010.
In January 2011, Lawson and her husband Charles Saatchi moved from Belgravia to Chelsea.[2]